scubish.com: Scuba diving Chiba - Japan

Chiba (千葉; ) is the largest city in Chiba prefecture, Japan. Practically speaking, it can be considered a large suburb of Tokyo.

Understand

Ignored entirely or dismissed as "suburbia" by travel guides, Chiba is generally regarded as the most boring of the cities surrounding Tokyo. But, as William Gibson fans will know, there is one excellent reason for visiting Chiba, as the "Tokyo-Chiba
urban sprawl" is where much of Neuromancer (ISBN 0441569595) is set:

: In Japan, he'd known with a clenched and absolute certainty, he'd find his cure. In Chiba. Either in a registered clinic or in the shadowland of black medicine. Synonymous with implants, nerve-splicing, and microbionics, Chiba was a magnet for the Sprawl's techno-criminal subcultures...

As it happens, Gibson's dystopian cyberpunk visions are at times difficult to correlate with the reality of modern-day Chiba, but the area still makes a reasonably interesting day trip from Tokyo if you have time to spare and prefer high technology toys over mouldering temples.
[[Image:chiba monorail.jpg|thumb|300px|Chiba Urban Monorail.The appearance in which it operates between modern buildings is worthy of the glance.

[[Image:Makuhari.jpg|thumb|300px|The street in Kaihin-Makuhari is beautiful and attractive. Beach and the shopping mall are scattered to be near. It can be said typical Urban Resort in Japan.
Get in

By plane
The JR Narita Line links Chiba directly to Narita's international airport. A few N'EX limited expresses stop at Chiba on their way to Tokyo, but usually the ordinary rapid service trains are a better bet.

By train
Train is the obvious means of arrival, as a dense web of routes links Chiba to Tokyo and points in the vicinity.

The JR Sōbu Rapid Line (総武快速線) runs from Tokyo Station's underground platforms to Chiba station via Kinshichō and Tsudanuma. Rapid trains reach Chiba in approximately 40 minutes at a cost of ¥620; you have the option, especially during the evening rush, of shelling out an additional ¥810 for a reserved seat on a limited express train, which make the run to Chiba in as little as 25 minutes.

The JR Chuō-Sōbu Local Line (中央・総武線「各駅停車」) runs directly across the Yamanote Line loop, via Shinjuku and Akihabara. Local trains take about 70 minutes to reach Chiba from Shinjuku on a regular service; this is shaved a little if you change to a Sobu Rapid train at Kinshicho. In either case the fare is ¥780.

The JR Keiyō Line (京葉線) runs from Tokyo Station to Chiba Minato and Soga stations along the coast (45 minutes, ¥740), via Maihama (Tokyo Disneyland), Nishi-Funabashi and Kaihin-Makuhari.

The private Keisei Chiba Line (京成千葉線) runs into Chiba-Chuō (千葉中央) station from Tsudanuma station on the Keisei Main Line (from Ueno and Nippori).

By bus
Airport Limousine bus link Chiba to Haneda and Narita airport.

Get around

By monorail
The two lines of the suspended Chiba Urban Monorail (千葉都市モノレール) , the world's longest suspended monorail and almost (but not quite) an attraction in themselves, connect the port (千葉みなと Chiba Minato) to Chiba station and then branch out to the northwest and northeast.

See

Chiba Port Tower (千葉ポートタワー). . 10 min on foot from monorail and Keiyo...